


Sometimes, Loves Means Smelling Like Mothballs

by TheseusInTheMaze



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Fluff, Jewish Characters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 02:50:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12998214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/pseuds/TheseusInTheMaze
Summary: Things are different as an adult. But the old magic can be recaptured.





	Sometimes, Loves Means Smelling Like Mothballs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [musicaleurydice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicaleurydice/gifts).



> Edited by Angel!

Dan stood next to Barry in front of the two menorahs, hip to hip.

They were singing.

They weren't singing very well, admittedly - neither of them spoke Hebrew, and neither of them could entirely remember the melodies.

But they were singing nonetheless, and they were going to be eating jelly doughnuts, and things were going to be... nice.

It was disgustingly domestic, and while the Dan of five years ago would have run away screaming, Dan of now was looking forward to this.

"I remember that, from when I was a kid," said Dan, when the singing had died down, and they were just standing there, a little awkward. 

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. My dad has a decent singing voice, when he feels like it, and he's kinda the only one who remembers how to speak Hebrew."

Dan smiled, looking a little sheepish.

"Sometimes I wish I knew it," said Barry, his expression thoughtful. "But... meh."

"You okay?"

Dan shot Barry a worried look.

"I'm okay," said Barry, but he was still quiet, as the two of them went to go eat doughnuts.

It was only when they were halfway through their doughnuts that Barry spoke up again.

"... there's something dumb I'm thinking of, and I know it's super dumb, which is why I didn't bring it up," said Barry, and he looked embarrassed.

"Hey man, if it's bothering you, it's bothering you," said Dan, and he leaned back into his chair, almost putting his hands behind his head, before he realized that he had powdered sugar on his hands.

That would have been a pain in the ass to wash out.

Barry sighed, and he grinned at Dan, slightly crooked, clearly still bashful.

"I'm, uh... I'm feeling nostalgic," said Barry. "For when I was a kid, and I knew more Jewish kids. I felt less... isolated."

"It is kinda hard to find other Jews around here," Dan admitted. "But we do have each other."

"Yeah," said Barry, and he was grinning a bit in spite of himself. "I mean, you wanna know what made me think about this in the first place?"

"What?"

"I was thinking about the fact that, like, you can find yourself a nice Christmas sweater - not even a fancy one or a jokey one, just a sweater with reindeer on it, or maybe some kind of snowman -"

"Snowmen are non-denominational," Dan argued.

"Okay, fine, there are winter sweaters that have been _colonized_ by Christmas," said Barry, "and then the only sweaters that I can find related to Channukah are the jokey ones."

Dan looked down at his own sweater - it had a menorah on it, and a few dreidels. 

It said "Let's Get Lit," and Dan was suddenly kind of embarrassed by it.

"Um," said Dan, looking down at his own sweater. "I hope you don't think badly of me for wearing this one...."

"Oh, no, dude, of course not," said Barry quickly.

He reached over, grabbing Dan's hand and squeezing it. 

Dan squeezed back, and he was blushing.

"I just... I guess I miss that when I was a kid, when it was easier to just... be sincere, you know?"

"I think I know," said Dan. 

He didn't have much trouble being sincere, but that had taken a lot of work.

One cannot go from being a regular dude to dancing around in spandex in one day.

Barry sighed.

"But I guess that's kinda part of being an adult, huh?"

"Hm?"

"Like...." Barry made a thoughtful face, staring up at the ceiling.

There was powdered sugar in Barry's beard, and Dan wanted to lean over and wipe it off.

And they were dating now, so why not?

Although Dan was currently too comfortable to do much of anything about it, because... well, he was comfortable, and this was a deep discussion, which probably didn't need to be interrupted by beard grooming.

Or maybe Dan was just a bit silly over Barry.

That might have been it.

"Like?" 

Dan made an encouraging hand motion.

"Like... I dunno." Barry sighed, and he looked embarrassed. "I know a lot of people our age - my age - are already searching for authenticity."

"Oh my god, Barry, we're not that different in age," said Dan, and he prodded Barry with his foot.

Barry prodded him back.

"But yeah," said Barry. "I dunno. I'm just kinda down, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Dan. "You don't _have_ to be happy for the holiday."

"I know, but I don't wanna bring you down," said Barry. "I know you like it."

"Hey man, if you just wanna forget about it, we can just hang out and watch movies, or whatever."

"Nah," said Barry. "I like being able to eat jelly doughnuts, and the candles are pretty nice."

"They are," said Dan. 

Barry smiled at him again, that smile that lit up his whole face, and something in Dan's chest opened up like a flower. 

... oh god, he had it bad.

But... well, there were certainly worse people for him to be falling in love with, right?

* * * 

They spent the evening together, Dan snoring quietly on Barry's lap at some point, as they watched a dumb movie.

Dan was sleepy, lazy, but... well, an idea was already forming in his head.

Although it was probably pretty dumb.

But still... he grinned as he brushed his teeth, getting ready for bed, as Barry curled up around his pillow, his eyes drifting shut.

* * * 

"Hey, Arin?"

"Mm?"

"You know how we were gonna be going shopping together today?"

"Yeah, I need to get Suzy that special soap she wants."

"... would you hate me if I told you that I've got, like, an actual idea of a thing I wanna do?"

"What kinda thing are we talking about?"

"... I want to find Barry a Channukah sweater," said Dan in a rush.

"Weren't they selling those at the mall?"

Arin took a bite out of his doughnut.

Dan had gone a little doughnut mad, but, well, it was the right season for it, right?

"No, like... a... _sincere_ Channukah sweater."

"A sincere Channukah sweater?" 

"Yeah."

"... did they ever make those?"

"Someone's grandma had to have made one."

"So what, you're gonna go on a quest to both little Jewish grandmothers?"

"Well, no," said Dan, and he took a bite of his own doughnut. "But someone had to have donated it to a thrift store or something, right?"

"If my grandmother made me a sweater like that, I'd keep it," Arin said. 

"Well, yeah," said Dan. "But aren't ungrateful grandchildren one of those universal constants?"

"... fair enough," said Arin. "But let's go to the soap store first, so I can get the thing that Suzy asked for first."

* * *

They went to the soap store, where Dan loitered uncomfortably, his eyes watering from all of the clashing scents.

When Arin came out, he was grinning.

“They had a Channukah soap,” he told Dan, and he tossed it to him.

Dan took it, sniffed it.

“... it smells like snow,” said Dan. “Or, like, what people think that snow smells like.”

“You know, I don’t really know what snow smells like,” said Arin, as the two of them made their way towards the car, to find the nearest thrift shop. “What with growing up in Florida and whatnot.”

“Right,” said Dan. “Makes sense.”

“But it’s got a menorah on it, so that makes it Jewish, right?”

“Something like that, yeah,” said Dan, and he buckled his seatbelt.

* * * 

They went to seven thrift stores.

By the third one, Arin was beginning to lose his usual… pep.

By the sixth one, even Dan was in a bad mood.

But at the seventh… Dan finally found it.

After digging through piles of slightly musty wool, he found a blue knitted sweater, with a big dreidel in the middle of it, and a pile of gelt right next to it.

“It’s perfect,” Dan gushed, and when he glanced over at Arin, he saw that Arin was grinning.

“You finally found it,” Arin agreed. “An actual sincere Channukah sweater!”

“Who knew it would be so damn difficult?” Dan grinned, but he paid for the sweater.

Then he paused.

“Do you know how to wrap a sweater?”

“... I think Suzy does,” said Arin. “We can ask her.”

* * * 

Suzy was charmed with the sweater, although she teased Dan mercilessly for it.

“If this is for you, it’s gonna be a dress,” Suzy warned, as she applied the last piece of tape.

She had used wrapping paper printed with little penguins.

“It’s not for me,” Dan said. “It’s for Barry.”

“... it’s gonna be even _more_ of a dress on him,” Suzy said, but she looked amused.

“Sorry,” said Dan.

“Don’t apologize to me,” said Suzy, and she grinned. “Go give your boyfriend a sweater.”

Dan blushed - he was still getting used to the whole… boyfriend thing.

* * * 

“What’s this?” 

They’d lit the candles, and now they were sitting across from each other at the table, and Dan had a little wrapped package in front of him.

There was a very big wrapped present in front of Barry.

“Well, it’s a present, so you’re expected to open it first,” said Dan. 

“Can I get a hint?”

“Nope,” said Dan. “Just open it.”

Barry was very careful as he opened it, sliding his finger under the paper.

Was he planning to reuse it?

Dan had always wondered about that, but it was endearing.

… admittedly, he was so endeared towards Barry that he’d probably find Barry blowing his nose cute, but, well, what can ya do, when you have it bad?

He watched Barry’s face, as Barry unwrapped the sweater.

“What did you get me, a dress?”

Barry was laughing.

And then he unfurled it, looking at the big knitted dreidel.

“Oh,” Barry said, and he sounded… legitimately surprised. 

Choked up.

“I know it’s kinda big,” Dan said quickly, “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know how to, uh, how to get a sweater taken in or whatever, but as far as I can tell, this is an utterly sincere Channukah sweater. I got it at a thrift store, and -”

Barry was kissing Dan.

Barry was kissing Dan, and then they pulled apart, breathing heavily.

“Holy shit,” Barry said. “This may be, like, the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“... what, really?”

Dan’s head was a bit fuzzy.

“Thank you,” Dan said, although he wasn’t sure why he was thanking Barry.

This was just… awkward.

But not necessarily a bad thing.

Um.

He kissed Barry, lacking anything else to do.

Barry kissed him back. 

Dan didn’t know what he had done to deserve a guy like Barry, but… well, he was doing everything that he could to show Barry how much he appreciated him.

Even if it meant smelling slightly like mothballs.


End file.
